Boehner Charges Obama With Threatening Government Shutdown

by Patrick Lester, 6/6/2013

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) accused President Obama of threatening a government shutdown on June 6. The charge came after the administration issued veto threats against two spending bills that are consistent with a broader House GOP effort to shift further budget cuts from defense spending to domestic programs.

In a letter shared with reporters, including The Washington Post, Boehner wrote: “Your administration’s sudden demand to increase spending and taxes — yet again — or else shut down the government can only be described as reckless."

A June 5 analysis by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has shown that while the House Republican budget would increase funding for defense, military construction, and homeland security, it would cut most domestic programs quite severely. The Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill would face a cut of 18.6 percent. (See graphic below.)

“Obviously, he’s not threatening a government shutdown,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told The Washington Post. “It’s a statement about how we should responsibly fund our government in ways that keep the commitments that Congress has made in the past to the American people.”